ENGLAND 235 Principal articles exported 1875. 1876. 1 . Cotton manufactures : Piece goods, white or plain .... ,, printed or dyed... ,, of other kinds Cotton yarn
33,255,013 19,900,918 5,442,922 13,172,860
31,454.280 18,494,492 4,910,763 12,781,733 Total 71,771,713 67,641,268 2. Woollens and worsted ; Cloths coatings, &c 6,850,203 6,451,410 Flannels, blankets, and baizes Worsted stuffs 1,239,637 11,159,914 1,014,886 9,141,605 Carpets and druggets 1,159,979 911,873 All other sorts 1.249,592 1,083,704 Woollen and worsted yarn 5,099,307 4,417,24: Total 26,758,632 23,020,719 3. Iron and steel : Iron, pi" and puddled 3.449.916 2,842,434 bar, angle, bolt, and rod railroad, of all sorts wire 2,725,907 5,453,836 780,037 1,945.445 3.700,105 731,148 tinned plates , 3,686,607 2,891,693 hoops and plates 3,304,148 2,853.621 wrought, of all sorts old, for re-manufacture... Steel, wrought and unwrought 4,342,492 102,837 1,901,491 4.041,418 95,977 1,635,569 Total 25,747,271 20,737,410 4. Coals, cinders, and fuel 9,658,088 8,904,463 5. Machinery , , , 9,058,647 7,210,426 G. Linen : White or plain 5,904,958 4,365,072 Printed, checked, or dyed Of other sorts 470,295 897,667 449,918 805.646 Linen yarn 1,855,684 1,449,513 Total 9,128,604 7,070,149 icroa^e im- )rts, id de- ease of -ports. ustoms ceipts the nited in- The most important fact in connection with the foreign commerce of the United Kingdom in recent years, is that there has been a gradual and steady increase of imports, together with a decrease of exports of home produce. The movement began in 1872. Up to that time, the exports of British home produce had kept on increasing with the imports, although at a lesser rate, and far inferior in aggregate value ; but a change took place in the latter year. While the imports continued their upward course, gradually rising from 354,693,624 in 1872 to 375,154,703 in 1876, the exports of British produce fell from 256,257,347 in 1872 to 200,639,204 in 1876. The decline in exports, regular and. steady throughout the period, and with a tendency to become more pronounced every year, affected all the principal articles of British home produce just enumerated. The value of the cotton manufactures exported sank from 80,164,155 in 1872 to 67,641,268 in 1876 ; woollen fabrics from 38,493,411 to 23,020,719; iron and steel from 35,996,167 to 20,737,410; coals from 10,442,321 to 8,904,463; machinery from 8,201,112 to 7,210,426; and linen manufactures from 10,956,761 to 7,070,149. The decline during the four years, it will be seen, was greatest of all in textile manufactures, and least in coals and machinery. Customs Receipts. While the distribution of the exports from each of the three great divisions of the United King dom may be judged by their comparative manufacturing activity, that of the imports can be approximately ascertained making due allowance for great centres of commerce from the custom-house returns. The receipts of the customs were as follows in each of the years 1875 and 1876 : Year 1873. Year 187G. England and Wales
15,763,666
15,802,004 Scotland 1 597 863 1 667 915 Ireland 1 755 487 1 829 881 Total, United Kingdom 19,117,016 19,299,800 More than one-half of the total customs receipts of the Customs United Kingdom, and nearly two-thirds of those of receipts England and Wales, are collected in London ; while the at . tl l e amount collected at Liverpool is not very far from the total English receipts of Scotland and Ireland. Besides London and ports. Liverpool, there are but eight towns of England and Wales, out of eighty-seven which have customhouse establishments, where the collection amounts to 100,000 and more per annum. The following is a list of these eight ports, together with London and Liverpool, giving the sums collected by the customs in each of them, in the years 1875 and 1876 : Ports. Year 1875. Year 1876 London
9 940 139
9 981 021 Liverpool. 2,919,419 2,979,241 Bristol 691 730 673,395 Newcastle 334,738 304,422 Manchester 150,255 161,985 Hull 161.461 159.009 Exeter Leeds 128,334 137,193 128,809 126,422 Chester 103 013 105,918 Sunderland 107,500 101,609 The table indicates commerce in goods only that pay duty ; otherwise Liverpool would show larger returns. It appears from the returns of the last thirty years that Great the commerce of the country has a constantly growing centres tendency towards concentration, and that while the cus- ofcom " toms receipts of the smaller ports are gradually decreasing, there is corresponding increase in those of the two chief ports, London and Liverpool, which are gradually becom ing the all-absorbing centres of England s international trade and navigation. Skipping. The shipping of the United Kingdom in- Progress creased sixfold in the period from 1840 to 1876. In the of . year 1840 the total tonnage of vessels, British and foreign, s "Pr in & which entered at ports of the United Kingdom was 4,657,795 ; and in the year 1850 it had risen to 7,100,476; while in 1860 the total tonnage was 12,172,785. The rise continued uninterrupted, as will be seen from the following table, which gives the tonnage of British and of foreign vessels which entered and cleared at ports of the United Kingdom every third year from 1864 to 1876 : Entered. Years. British Foreign. Total Tons. Tons Tons 1864 9,028,100 4,486,911 13,515,011 1867 11,197,865 5,140,952 16,338,817 1870 12.380.390 5.732,974 18,113,364 1873 14,541.028 7,323.929 21,864,957 1876 16.511,951 8,555,313 25,067,264 Cleared. ^ears. British. Foreign. Total. Tons. Tons Tons. 1864 9.173,575 4,515,923 13,689,433 1867 11,172,205 5,245,090 16,417,295 1870 12,691,790 5,835,028 18,526,818 1873 15,106,316 7,468,713 22,575,029 1876 16,930,028 8,787,610
25,717,638